Important NOAA resource now online

[Ursula Keuper-Bennett]

Dear CORALers, 

I am really a turtle person but I hang around here because I know the 
welfare of corals and reefs is critical to keeping marine turtles healthy. 

For the past four months I have been surfing the net trying to locate 
environmental information on all Green Turtle Fibropapilloma sites reported 
by Drs. Herbst and Williams.  I was doing quite well too.  

Today is Ocean Day.  As if to commemorate it, I came upon a most remarkable 
resource at a NOAA website.  Newly posted on May 30th is Chapter 1 (NOAA 
document) "State of the Reefs: Regional and Global Perspectives".  I was 
into the third paragraph before I realized I had forgotten to breathe! 
Neatly presented was much of the environmental information I had been 
searching for all these evenings! 

This web document has summarized conditions and trends of the world's reefs. 
I think this NOAA resource is important for all people interested in corals 
and reef systems.  If you aren't already concerned about much of the world's 
tropical and sub-tropical coastlines you'll be sounding the alarm after THIS 
read! 

You can reach this document DIRECTLY at: 

http://www.nos.noaa.gov/icri/state.html 

But also put The Coral Health and Monitoring Program homepage in your 
bookmarks. It can be reached at: 

http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/ 


Visiting the NOAA website will only get you Chapter One of this document. 
What follows is information necessary for people (like me) who want to order 
the entire thing. 


Jameson, S.C., J.W. McManus and M.D. Spalding. 1995. State of the 
Reefs: Regional and Global Perspectives. International Coral Reef Initiative 
Executive Secretariat Background Paper, US Department of State, Washington, 
DC, 32 p.  

For copies of the complete paper contact Stephen C. Jameson, US Department 
of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of 
Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, 1305 East-West Highway, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910, USA. 


I thank Drs. Jameson, McManus and Spalding for writing this resource, Jim 
Hendee (webmaster of NOAA site) for announcing it and NOAA for funding this 
critical research.  Some turtle friends I know back in Hawaii thank them too. 


                       ^                  Ursula Keuper-Bennett 
                      0 0                 Mississauga, Ontario 
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